After the frantic fun of the Snooker Shootout last weekend, the action comes at a more sedate pace this week as 32 of the leading players in the world head to Berlin for the German Masters, which this year is back at the Tempodrom after being forced behind closed doors in Milton Keynes last year.
Judd Trump has won in Berlin and he won in Milton Keynes last year and has made it through to attempt to successfully defend the title. Despite two rounds of qualifying for this event a stack of big names are ready to dethrone him.
Recent Winners
2021 – Judd Trump
2020 – Judd Trump
2019 – Kyren Wilson
2018 – Mark Williams
2017 – Anthony Hamilton
2016 – Martin Gould
2015 – Mark Selby
2014 – Ding Junhui
2013 – Ali Carter
2012 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
The Format
The first round, second round and the quarter finals are the best of nine frames this week, with some players having to play twice on Friday. Those who make it to the semi-finals on Saturday will compete over the best of 11 frames and then the champion will be crowned on Sunday when the finalists face off across two sessions and the best of 17 frames.
Top Quarter
There were scheduled to be eight players in the top quarter this week but Gao Yang has pulled out which leaves seven, and on the rankings they are the seven players who were expected to reach this stage. Judd Trump is the top seed this week and he’ll be expected to make the semi-finals but there are some good players opposing him. In terms of the three other top 16 players we have the Shootout finalist Mark Williams, Stephen Maguire and Anthony McGill.
There might only be three players outside the top 16 in this quarter but they are all capable of winning this thing. The biggest name is the recently crowned UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong while his Chinese compatriot Zhou Yuelong has been a winner in waiting for a while. Tom Ford made the semi-final in this last year and he’ll be looking to emulate that out now the event goes back out to Germany.
Second Quarter
The qualifiers have whittled the strength of the second quarter down a little bit but the two leading seeds in it have made it through in the form of The Masters champion Neil Robertson, who will be looking to add the German version to his Alexandra Palace success. This is one tournament Robertson has never won so he’ll be eager to put that right this week. Kyren Wilson has won this event in the past and he’s here for another crack at the title.
The six remaining players in this quarter are all from outside the top 16 when the qualifiers were played. The headliner among those is the Scottish Open champion Luca Brecel, who is now firmly inside the elite after that success. Ricky Walden and Jimmy Robertson have both made semi-finals this season and will be looking to at least match that here while the other three players in the quarter are Zhang Anda, Craig Steadman and the amateur Michael Georgiou for whom this could be a huge week.
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Third Quarter
We are already down to seven players in the third quarter after the Shootout semi-finalist Liang Wenbo has withdrawn from the tournament. The qualifiers left us with just two members of the top 16 in this part of the draw. They are the world finalist Shaun Murphy who will be looking to get his hands on this trophy for the first time. Mark Allen has never even reached the final of this event but he has won the Northern Ireland Open this season and will be buoyed by that.
That means we have five players from outside the top 16 in the third quarter this week with Kurt Maflin the highest ranked of them. We haven’t seen a lot of him this season so he’ll be eager to make up for that this week. Lyu Haotian is another in the tournament here while Andrew Higginson will know it is a big week for his tour survival hopes. Liam Highfield and Fan Zhengyi have the chance to earn some good corn here too.
Bottom Quarter
He might not have had the best season so far and has been quite open about some issues off the table but the former winner and world champion Mark Selby has made it through to the final stages of the event and he is one of just two top 16 players left in the bottom quarter. The other is the former Masters champion Yan Bingtao who has been knocking on the door of another trophy to add to his collection this season without actually getting his hands on one.
One man who did get his hands on some silverware at the beginning of this term is Dave Gilbert and he’s one of the six players from outside the top 16 who are in this section. Former Shootout winner Ryan Day is also in the field this week. Noppon Saengkham and Sam Craigie are a couple of dark horses who could join the list of surprise winners this event has thrown up in the past. The field is completed by the veterans Ken Doherty and Barry Pinches.
Betting
When you look at the draw this week the soft section is very much the third quarter where Mark Allen looks to have landed himself in a perfect part of the bracket for a deep run this week. The only other top 16 player in his quarter is Shaun Murphy, a player who is in no form whatsoever and who has spoken about a back injury debilitating him on certain shots so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he bombs out early. Should that happen the draw opens right up for Allen.
Even in the other half of the half of the draw that Allen is in there is only really Mark Selby to worry about and I think it is fair to say he has issues elsewhere at the minute so the Northern Ireland Open winner really couldn’t have asked for a better run to the final this week. Allen lost in the first round to Judd Trump at The Masters but his indifferent preparation to that match has been well publicised and even then he had his man where he wanted him in the deciding frame before letting him off the hook. He should be in a better place preparation wise for this one and can go well here.
Tips
Back M.Allen to win German Masters (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 10.00 with Betway (1/2 1-2)
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